The present invention is directed toward novel fluorinated flavone acetic acids (FAA) suitable for use as antitumor agents. The fluorinated FAA compounds are more effective than their unfluorinated counterparts. For example B. Derwinko and L-Y. Yang, "The Activity of flavone acetic acid (NSC 347512) on human colon cancer cells in vitro" Invest. New Drugs, 4:289-93 (1986) disclose that FAA (4-oxo-2-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-8-acetic acid) had "relatively poor cytotoxic effects and because the therapeutic range of FAA is so narrow, we conclude that this agent will not be a valuable contribution to the antitumor arsenal at least for colon cancer." Meanwhile, the fluorinated FAA of the present invention has shown curative activity in murine pancreatic carcinoma models and against solid tumors. In particular, they have been shown to exhibit activity against human tumor cell lines and an FAA resistant cell line.